


will you bring back what once was mine?

by Tatsumaki_sama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Trauma, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Kid Fic, Kidnapping, Parent-Child Relationship, Phoenixes, Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness, Tangled (2010) References, Tears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 11:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30138810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatsumaki_sama/pseuds/Tatsumaki_sama
Summary: Long ago, a drop of a phoenix tear fell and blessed a young Harry Potter with healing abilities. Voldemort wishes to use this power to keep himself immortal and kidnaps him. Despairing but not without hope, the boy's family are determined to find him.
Relationships: Dobby & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Sirius Black & Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	will you bring back what once was mine?

**Author's Note:**

> I was re-watching Disney's Tangled and I was just struck with emotion for the King and Queen, who were able to convey their sadness and despair of losing their child so well, even without saying a single word. And since Harry Potter is my current obsession at the moment, let's substitute them with James and Lily and add a Tangled-inspired twist to this story. The title was inspired by the Healing Incantation, of course. 
> 
> I really did like the idea of Harry having the healing ability of phoenix tears, mimicking how Rapunzel was able to heal others.

Harry Potter was not expected to live past his first month.

There was an illness that almost killed Lily Potter during her pregnancy and it was unfortunately passed onto her son.

They tried everything, but the boy continued to grow weaker. The hospital staff at St Mungo's were already prepared for the worst.

It was nothing short of a miracle when a certain phoenix visited the boy one day and as a single phoenix tear touched the boy's cheek and melted into his clammy skin, his ashen color improved and his bawling suddenly became louder and hearty.

James and Lily Potter cried tears of joy as they held their healthy son while the hospital staff stared in open shock.

It was then that the story of a boy who lived began.

~.~.~

No one would have thought of it at the time but by receiving a phoenix tear, Harry Potter too would be able to heal others with his own tears, as his father's friend Remus Lupin would discover when he had wiped a tear from the boy's cheek and the scratches on his arms from his latest werewolf transformation were almost immediately healed and the exhaustion was erased from his trembling limbs.

Albus Dumbledore, owner of the phoenix who had saved Harry Potter, knew little on the matter.

Studies regarding phoenix tears and its healing properties were few and far in between and James and Lily Potter were in agreement to not subject their son to such scrutiny.

They would not have a choice in that matter.

~.~.~

In this world, there are no such things as Horcruxes and Voldemort was forced to continue his search for something that would allow him to defeat death.

He tried different potions, spells and experiments, but all did not last long. He was beginning to feel his age, his powers waning, and he was beginning to grow desperate.

Then, he heard of Harry Potter, the boy who lived.

~.~.~

The Potters went into hiding, but they were soon found, not too long after casting the Fidelius charm.

In this world, James Potter did not meet Voldemort wandless.

He was the top of his class when it came to Transfiguration, something Minerva McGonagall would boast about well after he had graduated, and his creative use of it when it came to duelling saved his and other lives quite a few times.

Especially when it came to defying Voldemort three times already.

He made the nearby tables, chairs and sofa leap and transform to weapons, shrieking birds and shields to defend its inhabitants. And for some time, it was able to buy Lily Potter time to cast wards in the bedroom she and Harry were barricaded in.

Voldemort, growing impatient with this mere distraction, made a slashing movement with his wand, just as James Potter shouted a shield spell.

The resulting clash of spells sent James Potter crashing into the opposite wall, a trail of blood staining the wallpaper behind him.

It was lucky for him that Voldemort would rather not waste time with trivial people. Not when his true purpose for coming here was so close within grasp.

The bedroom door splintered and burst open, the wards dissipating with a muffled whimper.

Lily Potter levitated books, toys and boxes to fling them all towards the person entering. She cast multiple Disarming, Incendio and Stunning spells. She conjured every jinx she could think of.

Despite Lily Potter's extraordinary talent in Charms, it was not enough to stop Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards alive, from getting what he wanted.

In the end, all Lily Potter could do was place herself between her son's crib and Voldemort, her wand still shakily pointed at him.

He told her to move. She refused.

In another world, Voldemort would cast a Killing Curse to be done with her.

In this world, he instead flicked his wand to forcibly fling the girl out of his way.

James Potter was staggering up the stairway, blinking back blood from a gash across his forehead. Lily Potter was buried underneath a collapsed bookshelf, struggling to find her wand.

Harry Potter was crying, frightened by all the horrible sounds and lights.

James and Lily Potter were screaming their son's name.

A spider-like hand reached down.

By the time James Potter reached the bedroom and by the time Lily Potter managed to kick free from the bookshelf, neither Voldemort or Harry were to be seen.

In a little while, Rubeus Hagrid and Sirius Black would find James and Lily Potter crumpled in their son's bedroom, covered in soot, dirt and blood, howling in grief.

Harry Potter was gone, stolen away by Voldemort.

~.~.~

In this world, no celebrations erupted throughout the country.

There were no owls swooping in and out of homes, delivering the joyous news.

There were no hushed whispers about a boy who had vanquished He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley continued about their lives, suspecting nothing strange.

There would be no solemn, respectful toasts for James and Lily Potter, as they sobbed in each other's arms in Albus Dumbledore's office later that night.

Albus Dumbledore had no words of comfort to offer. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stood as silent, grieving sentries behind them.

Even in their worst fears, they had never thought Voldemort would take Harry Potter and leave them alive.

They could only imagine what he would do to their son, each possibility more terrible than the last.

~.~.~

Some things remain the same however.

Despite James and Lily surviving, Sirius Black still hunted down Peter Pettigrew for his betrayal.

He did not tell James or Lily, who remained lost in their grief and still recovering from their wounds. He did not tell Remus who was tending to them and making sure they were eating or Dumbledore who was busy relaying new instructions to the Order to find any clues that would lead to Voldemort's location and where Harry Potter could possibly be.

Because in every world and timeline, Sirius was nothing but loyal to James, to Lily and to Harry and anyone who dared hurt those he considered family would pay. His guilt at almost getting his dearest friends killed and for his beloved godson being kidnapped drove him to track down Peter on his own.

But Peter Pettigrew was not the same timid, awkward boy he had remembered from their school days. Regardless of whether Voldemort was alive or not, Peter was still far more clever and calculating than his friends had taken him for.

Peter escaped down to the sewers before Sirius could stop him.

Sirius was arrested by Aurors, but he was not laughing mad. He behaved frightfully rational and calm for a man who was accused of betraying his friends and selling a child to Voldemort.

It did not take long for James, Lily and Dumbledore to appear before the the Ministry of Magic and Barty Crouch Senior to defend Sirius and declare him innocent. Within a few weeks, he was released from Azkaban.

Even as James and Lily repeatedly reassured him they did not blame him at the slightest, Sirius found no comfort in their words.

For his actions had cost them their son, the very person he had sworn to protect with his life.

(in dark dreams that would haunt him for years to come, Sirius watched as an adult Harry Potter, greatly resembling his father but with his mother's eyes, coldly looked at him and said _Avada Kedavra_ with a high-pitched laugh that resembled Voldemort's)

(and if that nightmare were to ever come true, Sirius had long already decided he would accept it as penance for what he had done to his godson)

~.~.~

For the first year, James and Lily held onto the precarious hope that Harry was still alive.

The Order hunted down and interrogated any Death Eater they could find. There were some like Bellatrix Lestrange who taunted them as she danced out of their reach, saying the boy was long dead and his body was eaten alive by carrions as he cried out for his parents.

It took Alaster Moody and Frank Longbottom to hold back Sirius from recklessly launching himself at his cousin. It also took James and Remus to do the same with Lily.

The other Order members looked upon them with pity, their gazes haunting their steps. Other wizarding citizens murmured their condolences to the Potters, for on record, their son was listed as missing and presumed dead.

James and Lily politely accepted their sympathies and continued their search for their son.

Only four other people shared their determination: Sirius, who persisted in looking for his godson at the cost of his own health and avoided James and Lily out of shame; Remus, who hated seeing his three remaining friends wasting away and wanted to find at least some resolution of Harry's fate to spare them further pain, and Dumbledore, who felt immense guilt for not protecting Harry Potter more and immense sorrow at what Voldemort could be doing to little Harry Potter in order to test the limits of living and death.

Unbeknownst to them, except for Dumbledore, Severus Snape was also doing his best to gain more of Voldemort's favor, to see if he could glean further information about the boy's whereabouts as well. This was his atonement to Lily, who he had beseech to Dumbledore to never tell her that he was the one who told Voldemort about the whispers of a boy who lived he had heard at St Mungo's in the first place.

As fragile of a hope that it was, it was enough to keep them going.

For Harry, they would go to the ends of the earth and beyond that.

~.~.~

In the small town of Little Hangletown, none of its residents noticed new occupants in the long abandoned Riddle House.

On record, a wealthy man bought the manor for tax reasons but did not live there.

Local children would dare each other to try to enter the premise, only to suddenly remember they had other important things to do or thought they heard their angry parents calling for them before running back home.

Adults muttered about how it was haunted after the mysterious deaths of the Riddle family all those years ago and glowered at the sole suspect whenever he was in their presence.

Frank Bryce did not care for their rumors. He was only paid to do work on the garden, after all.

~.~.~

Voldemort was a cruel man with cruel intentions.

He despised Albus Dumbledore and James Potter and Lily Potter and all those in the Order of the Phoenix who fought against him.

What better way was it than to raise their beloved boy to become his own weapon and turn him against the Order?

However, Voldemort knew nothing about love and kindness and caring for another human being. He also was paranoid and distrustful of his followers, even of the most loyal ones. A logical decision would be to give Harry Potter to families who had young children like the Malfoys or the Goyles or the Crabbes, but he did not.

In fact, Voldemort made no mention of what he did to Harry Potter and anyone who did broach the topic was severely punished.

(this managed to help Voldemort in the long run, as not one of his followers truly knew what happened to Harry Potter and simply believed the boy was dead, as they were so fond of saying to provoke their enemies)

Weakness was not something Voldemort would ever show to his followers nor would he ever lower himself to beg for assistance. For Voldemort, he despised the very notion of depending on something or someone. If anyone, even his devoted followers, were to ever know of his reliance on Harry Potter, they would surely take advantage of it.

Deep down, Voldemort was more frightened of Harry Potter than he would realize. If the boy grew up, Harry Potter might yet have the strength to challenge him as the next Dark Lord.

Better to raise the boy as a pitiful Muggle, he decided. For Voldemort could hardly conceive of a worse fate for someone. The boy would never realize his full potential and he would be under Voldemort's thumb.

Unfortunately for him, this would be the beginning of Voldemort's own undoing.

~.~.~

Voldemort demanded the need of a house elf and he happened to take one from the Malfoys. They were not counted among his trusted followers so he gave them no explanation or warning. They were surprised but did not ask any further. They after all had many house elves.

They gave away Dobby, their least liked house elf.

Voldemort gave strict orders to Dobby to look after Harry Potter, to cook for and feed him, clean for him, teach him basic reading and writing skills and keep him hidden in the manor.

He never once considered the possibility that Dobby would come to love Harry Potter.

Dobby, who had grown up despised and treated horribly by the Malfoys, had expected the same at his new placement. But Harry Potter, despite being so young, loved freely and fiercely.

He would smile and giggle for Dobby, reaching for the house elf for a hug, offering half-eaten food as a gift and only curling asleep when the house elf was nearby. Harry Potter was a delightful, good-natured child, nothing like his Malfoy counterpart who would throw a tantrum if he did not get what he wanted quickly enough. Harry Potter watched and learned from Dobby and once he was able to walk, he wanted to help clean and cook like Dobby, seeing it as a game rather than a chore.

Dobby was touched, no one had ever offered to help him before. He repeatedly declined Harry Potter's request but soon gave in as he noticed the boy would try to take out the cleaning supplies and try to fill up all of the pots with soapy water before meal times.

And in return, Dobby treated Harry Potter far more kindly and humanely than Voldemort would have. He conjured stuffed animals, toys, books and other things for entertainment and delight for the boy. He often cooked the boy's favourite foods and treated him to snacks if he did well in his lessons. He pretended not to notice when he knew the boy would sneak outside the back kitchen door on certain days to feel the grass underneath his bare feet and sometimes make new friends with the creatures outside like birds or mice or snakes.

However, as eccentric and unusual of a house elf he was, there were still boundaries that Dobby would not cross.

Harry Potter was fascinated with magic and always asked Dobby to teach him how he could make the plates and frying pan float and how the mop was able to dance across the floors on its own.

He also always wondered why he was not allowed to leave the manor or meet other people or see anyone else really.

Dobby had never lied to Harry Potter – nor did he intend to start – but the house elf's ears drooped sadly as he explained that house elves had a unique affinity with magic and that Harry Potter had to stay inside because it was dangerous outside.

It was not the entire truth but Harry Potter had came to accept it.

Similar in other worlds, Harry Potter would not know what it would be like to have a mother embrace him after a nightmare or a father comforting him after scraping his knees down the stairs.

But unlike other worlds, Harry Potter had one person he could count as a friend.

~.~.~

Harry would come to dread his visits with the man he would know as Lord Voldemort.

The visits were sporadic and difficult to predict. Dobby had given him a calendar and he did try to track the days, as if he was counting down the days until his birthday.

Lord Voldemort did not live in the manor and he came and went beyond the manor as he pleased. And when he arrived to the manor in a billow of black smoke and fire, he would call for Harry and he was to come immediately to his side, like an obedient dog.

There were no kindness in his eyes and he was not a friend, as Harry had come to associate with Lord Voldemort. Dobby was kind and was Harry's friend, but as he quickly learned, he was not to speak about Dobby like that in Lord Voldemort's presence.

Dobby had limped for weeks after.

Lord Voldemort called him Harry Potter like his very name made him ill. He also called Harry other names like “filthy Muggle” and “half-blood”. Harry did not know the meaning of those names but he knew when he was being demeaned and belittled because Dobby would never speak to him in that kind of tone.

Sometimes Lord Voldemort spoke to Harry about things he did not understand, sneering as he was gloating down on Harry, surveying him like he was a silly little child who knew nothing. He would stare down at Harry until Harry would eventually learn to always avert his gaze from his dark red eyes.

Harry had asked Dobby why Lord Voldemort looked so different than him or Dobby or the people in his pictures books. But the house elf had shook his head in muted terror, glancing around as if Lord Voldemort would appear behind them that instant.

But Harry was a curious child, as all young children are, and he made the mistake of asking this to Lord Voldemort one day and Lord Voldemort flew into a rage, violently hissing at him to never ask questions again.

There were painful reddened marks across Harry's face that lingered for some time where Lord Voldemort's hand had clamped down over his mouth and nose.

After that, Harry would nod or shake his head and say “ Yes, sir” and “ No, sir” if Voldemort directed a question towards him and Harry would only speak when spoken to. Nothing else was permitted.

Lord Voldemort's visits were never long. He would sometimes circle around Harry, pointing and prodding at Harry with a strange cruel wooden stick, ignoring the way Harry would whimper in pain. Or sometimes, he would beckon Harry to come close and his pale hands would tighten over Harry's wrists like a vice, watching with glee as the boy fruitlessly tried to pull away.

Every time, Lord Voldemort would not stop hurting Harry until he started crying.

Then, when satisfied, he would finally release Harry, caressing Harry's tear-stained cheeks in a mocking imitation of affection.

Harry learned to be fearful of Lord Voldemort's touch. If Dobby fondly patted him on the hand or if one of his animal friends lightly nipped at his fingers, they were never forceful or harsh, never with the intention to hurt him. He wondered why Lord Voldemort took pleasure in watching him recoil in pain and what exactly was his relationship with Lord Voldemort.

Harry had tried to hide and run away before, to escape the pain and of how frightened he was when Lord Voldemort was close by, but Lord Voldemort would always find him and punish him – or worse, punish Dobby – for such offences.

And when Lord Voldemort would finally leave, Harry and Dobby would breath freely for some time until the next visit.


End file.
